Poimandres
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2009
- Posts
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- 142
It's not as much about the chip as it is implementation.
Yup, his day job is to implement the DAC chip for clients.
Does anyone have tips for changing out the op-amps? Is it as simple as wiggling the opamps from side to side until they come loose, or is there a safer way?
And do the new op-amps need to be inserted with a certain orientation?
The battery last so long that I don't even think about it. Just lasts forever. If you are using the optical in, its shorter though but still long.
I couldn't even guess. Hours and hours.
microStreamer + UHA-6S MKII.
Edit: + MDR-Z7.
Better than standalone UHA-6S MkII?
I think I prefer the microStreamer to the UHA-6S's onboard DAC. Also the battery life for the UHA-6S when paired with the microStreamer is insane. But it seems like the battery life tends to be excellent anyway.
Could you kindly provide details why you prefer the microstreamer? I have iFi stuff which have the same TI/BB 1793 DAC chip as the microstreamer, but I want to really hear Cirrus Logic's TOTL DAC chip on the Leck.
Not speaking directly to the Microstreamer, but I think - among people that have had the unit a while and have tried out a number of external USB DACs with it - that the general impression of the DAC chip is that it's the weak link. Part of it is because the amp section of the 6S MKII is so well designed, but another part of it is that the DAC chip when used over USB sounds hazy, slightly lifeless, slightly blurry as far as microdetail is concerned and indistinct in its imaging.
Even a humble ODAC sounds far better than the Leckerton's built in Cirrus when used over USB. Depending on your sonic preferences both the Microstreamer and the Geek Out 450 are huge improvements over the the Leckerton's DAC when used over USB.
I'm of the impression now, however, that it's not the chip itself or Nick's implementation of it. I think that the barrier point is the USB interface itself. USB signals in the Leckerton are handled/converted to SPDIF by a TI PCM2706. I heavily suspect that this is the weak link.
For fun, if you have a USB/SPDIF converter or other SPDIF transport available, try listening to the Leckerton over it's Coax connection. In my own listening (YMMV, anecdotally, etc etc.) the sound is markedly improved. I don't think that the (rather large) improvement in sound quality over Coax comes from it's ability to handle higher bit rate/sample rate material as the difference is there with redbook quality files as well. (The UHA.6S MKII is capped at 16/48 over USB; 24/96 via SPDIF.) I think the improvement comes from removing the PCM2706 from the equation altogether.